Latest / Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond / Matt Berninger
Transcript
- 0:15Speaker 1: Pushkin.
- 0:20Speaker 2: Today we have part two of our run of interviews
- 0:22Speaker 2: with The National and celebration of their new album First
- 0:26Speaker 2: two pages of Frankenstein. Last week, Broken Record producer Leah
- 0:31Speaker 2: Rose talked to guitarist and composer Aaron Destner about The
- 0:34Speaker 2: National's interpersonal dynamics. Today, Leah picks up that conversation with
- 0:40Speaker 2: the band's lead singer, Matt Buringer. Matt, whose fear and
- 0:44Speaker 2: anxieties are often on full display in this songwriting, talks
- 0:48Speaker 2: about overcoming a debilitating bout of depression in the period
- 0:52Speaker 2: before he started writing songs for the new album. He
- 0:55Speaker 2: also explains how the combination of weed and iced tea
- 0:58Speaker 2: helped him spark his creativity and why he hopes his
- 1:01Speaker 2: songwriting impresses Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift. Is Broken Record
- 1:10Speaker 2: liner notes for the Digital Age.
- 1:12Speaker 1: I'm justin Ritchman.
- 1:14Speaker 2: Here's Lea Rose with Matt Runninger.
- 1:18Speaker 3: I saw a video that you recorded. I guess it
- 1:21Speaker 3: was like two years ago for Amiba Records, and you
- 1:26Speaker 3: were picking through your favorite records and I started to
- 1:31Speaker 3: sort of like listen to some of the to the
- 1:34Speaker 3: records that you were showing, and it really helped me
- 1:37Speaker 3: understand you as an artist and as a singer, and
- 1:40Speaker 3: so I wanted to hear you just talk about some
- 1:43Speaker 3: of these artists and see how specifically maybe their style
- 1:48Speaker 3: helped you develop your own style.
- 1:50Speaker 1: Yeah. Cool, I don't remember what I picked.
- 1:53Speaker 3: So yeah, I figure then maybe the list has changed
- 1:56Speaker 3: at this point.
- 1:56Speaker 1: Yeah, but maybe I'll be I'll disown this whole list,
- 1:59Speaker 1: but let's see.
- 2:00Speaker 3: Yeah, I know, right, But the first artist I wanted
- 2:03Speaker 3: to ask you about was Tom Waits.
- 2:05Speaker 1: Uh huh.
- 2:06Speaker 3: When did you start listening to Tom Waits?
- 2:09Speaker 1: I think I freshman year at college, so that was
- 2:12Speaker 1: nineteen ninety. I went to a couple of years at
- 2:15Speaker 1: Miami University of Cincinnati, so I was like, it was
- 2:18Speaker 1: my first year of college, so this is the first
- 2:20Speaker 1: time I lived alone. And that's when I remember hearing
- 2:23Speaker 1: Ah God. I think it was it was a compilation
- 2:27Speaker 1: I heard him on first, and I think it was
- 2:30Speaker 1: the song Big Black Mariah, and I don't remember what
- 2:34Speaker 1: compilation it was on, and I fell in love of
- 2:37Speaker 1: that song, and I went out and tried and wanted
- 2:39Speaker 1: to buy check out some records, but I remember all
- 2:43Speaker 1: I could find was this one record, his early Year's
- 2:47Speaker 1: record and like a guy called Tom Waits and said
- 2:50Speaker 1: early years, and then there's this skinny white guy on
- 2:52Speaker 1: the cover. I was like, this isn't This isn't the
- 2:54Speaker 1: person from who's singing Big Black Mariah on the thing.
- 2:57Speaker 1: I had heard this has got to be somebody else,
- 2:59Speaker 1: but I bought it anyway, and it was so I
- 3:01Speaker 1: think I first got into his early years and then
- 3:04Speaker 1: connected all the dots to like Bone Machine, and that
- 3:07Speaker 1: was right right before Bone Machine came out. I feel
- 3:09Speaker 1: like that's when I can't remember exactly what all, but
- 3:12Speaker 1: it was the fun journey like learning hearing like you know,
- 3:16Speaker 1: semi you know, contemporary or or whatever nineties Tom Waits
- 3:22Speaker 1: and then going back and then then starting with his
- 3:24Speaker 1: really early like those real acoustic demos and piano demos
- 3:28Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, that was
- 3:30Speaker 1: a big long time all through college, it feels like.
- 3:34Speaker 1: And then and then I would come back to him
- 3:36Speaker 1: and in different records I would I would go into
- 3:39Speaker 1: deep Dives and at different times and rain Dogs.
- 3:43Speaker 3: Yeah that was the one that you picked out for
- 3:44Speaker 3: the semi bit.
- 3:45Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean I also also remember another Okay,
- 3:50Speaker 1: this is how stupid I was with music. And I
- 3:52Speaker 1: didn't didn't really do very deep at dives. I thought
- 3:56Speaker 1: that was him on the cover forever, right and and
- 3:59Speaker 1: and I mean and I'd seen pictures of him and see,
- 4:02Speaker 1: but for some reason, my brain made them the same,
- 4:05Speaker 1: the same face, the same person. But yeah, I haven't tattoo.
- 4:10Speaker 1: That says Martha from his song Martha and which I
- 4:15Speaker 1: remember listening to and crying too after breaking up with
- 4:20Speaker 1: my first college girlfriend or being broke up broken up
- 4:22Speaker 1: with it was mutual. I don't remember.
- 4:26Speaker 3: That.
- 4:26Speaker 1: I was driving back to Cincinnati from Oxford, Ohio and
- 4:30Speaker 1: realizing that was finally over, and then I transferred to
- 4:33Speaker 1: a new school anyway. Yeah, so Tom Waits was like
- 4:36Speaker 1: right there and some of the most intense you know,
- 4:38Speaker 1: early early relationships, but then always like, you know, my
- 4:42Speaker 1: Karna and I like just went through big deep Tom
- 4:45Speaker 1: Waits dives you know, over different times. And yeah, just
- 4:49Speaker 1: just this combination of goofiness and heartbreak and darkness, you know,
- 4:55Speaker 1: and and spookiness. There's just something all about you know.
- 4:58Speaker 1: And he Nick Cave's another one who's who's like in
- 5:01Speaker 1: that sort of world, like the just the the the
- 5:04Speaker 1: alchemy of sincerity and silliness you know, that's so magical.
- 5:10Speaker 3: Sometimes do you hear them in your own performance when
- 5:14Speaker 3: when you sing like.
- 5:15Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure, I mean I don't. I'm sure other
- 5:19Speaker 1: people do more than I do. You know, you know
- 5:22Speaker 1: I can't. I don't know what I look like in
- 5:24Speaker 1: the mirror, you know everybody else. That's one of those things.
- 5:26Speaker 1: But uh, but the other thing about what Tom Waits
- 5:29Speaker 1: is I was also really always really taken with and
- 5:33Speaker 1: kind of inspired by his relationship with his wife Kathleen
- 5:37Speaker 1: Brennan and how they write together and there you know,
- 5:40Speaker 1: one of one of my favorite songs of his all
- 5:43Speaker 1: time is called Johnsburg, Illinois, and it's just a little
- 5:47Speaker 1: portrait of a song about where she's from, you know,
- 5:49Speaker 1: and just about about meeting her. And it's like the
- 5:52Speaker 1: most delicate, little, sweet, little love song. And yeah, so
- 5:57Speaker 1: I think that was something I always found so romantic
- 6:00Speaker 1: and so cool that here's this guy who can write
- 6:03Speaker 1: all these songs about heartbreak and all this stuff, but
- 6:07Speaker 1: then also write them with his the one he loves,
- 6:10Speaker 1: you know, I think it's really cool.
- 6:12Speaker 3: Yeah, that's beautiful. If you don't know a band, you
- 6:16Speaker 3: don't know a singer, you don't know a song. How
- 6:19Speaker 3: much patience do you have to sort of discover something new.
- 6:23Speaker 1: I'd like to think I have some, like like some patients,
- 6:29Speaker 1: But that's a good question, because I do struggle a lot.
- 6:34Speaker 1: I think with like even even like the playlist set
- 6:37Speaker 1: that I'm on, I mean, I just like I have
- 6:40Speaker 1: a harder time. I mean, I don't know. I've was
- 6:42Speaker 1: always a bit of a snob. And that's the thing
- 6:44Speaker 1: about music. It's like sports, so it's like, like you
- 6:46Speaker 1: hate most stuff, you know, you want to talk about
- 6:48Speaker 1: how much it's like with your friends, like, oh, you know,
- 6:51Speaker 1: and you define yourself by everything you hate, you know,
- 6:55Speaker 1: or you don't get. And I was definitely that contrary,
- 6:58Speaker 1: and you know I was. I mean, the Smith's were
- 7:00Speaker 1: a band I love so much, just because none of
- 7:03Speaker 1: my other friends had ever heard of them, and the
- 7:05Speaker 1: boy with the thorn on his side was was definitely me,
- 7:08Speaker 1: you know. And so still I have a little bit
- 7:10Speaker 1: of that where I'm like, like, what, I don't get it,
- 7:13Speaker 1: you know, But I realize I'm totally wrong most of
- 7:16Speaker 1: the time, and then and I'll get used to it
- 7:18Speaker 1: and I'll learn things about it. So it's hard to
- 7:20Speaker 1: say I might have been more of a snob when
- 7:23Speaker 1: I was, you know, in college than I am now.
- 7:26Speaker 1: And and now I I actually really have a fun
- 7:30Speaker 1: time studying like stuff I don't listen to at all.
- 7:34Speaker 1: But I'm like, like I did a recent sort of
- 7:36Speaker 1: thing of just like what's you know, all these different
- 7:39Speaker 1: artists their number one song and trying to figure out
- 7:41Speaker 1: what the tempo of their number one song was. You know,
- 7:44Speaker 1: In the first three artists I looked at, it was
- 7:46Speaker 1: like one eighteen, right, So.
- 7:48Speaker 3: Yeah, I've heard like one twenty is kind of like
- 7:50Speaker 3: is that for a pop record? That might be kind
- 7:53Speaker 3: of like the.
- 7:54Speaker 1: I know, Well, I'm like I'm like I'm looking it
- 7:57Speaker 1: up and then and I'm like trying to like, well,
- 7:58Speaker 1: what is it? What are people like, you know, what
- 8:01Speaker 1: is this the pop world? Like? What are these because
- 8:04Speaker 1: every wee talked about the formula, but then I did.
- 8:07Speaker 1: I did, But then it was it was a few
- 8:09Speaker 1: exercise because then I listened to a batch of other
- 8:11Speaker 1: and suddenly I found a bunch that were, you know,
- 8:14Speaker 1: like around one fifty, and then I've found a bunch
- 8:17Speaker 1: that are like like great songs that are around ninety,
- 8:20Speaker 1: you know. And then but then it's also like it's
- 8:22Speaker 1: all it's all just in the groove and how you
- 8:23Speaker 1: subdivide it, and it's like something that's like ninety is
- 8:26Speaker 1: also one eighty, you know, and depending on how you
- 8:29Speaker 1: deliver it. And then so I kind of it didn't
- 8:32Speaker 1: lead me anywhere, but it was really it was kind
- 8:34Speaker 1: of fun to dig into it. There's also I read
- 8:37Speaker 1: about all this stuff and how it's slowing down pop music.
- 8:39Speaker 1: Is the average BPM used to be like in the
- 8:42Speaker 1: one forties and now it's down to somebody's saying it's
- 8:45Speaker 1: like down to like one one o eight is an average.
- 8:48Speaker 3: Oh it's funny. I mean I could definitely see that
- 8:50Speaker 3: with hip hop because hip hop has like gotten way
- 8:53Speaker 3: like more like slow in syrupy, but but one one
- 8:57Speaker 3: forty is super fast.
- 8:58Speaker 1: Yeah, But the truth is it doesn't actually it doesn't
- 9:02Speaker 1: matter at all because you could take any BPM and
- 9:06Speaker 1: subdivide it in a way and put a swing to it,
- 9:08Speaker 1: and how you like, all of a sudden, its momentum
- 9:11Speaker 1: goes from sluggish to like it just it's like mixing paint.
- 9:15Speaker 1: You know. It's like it's like which is fun to
- 9:17Speaker 1: you know, It's it's like there's not a formula. There's
- 9:19Speaker 1: not like a there's not a formula for a good painting.
- 9:22Speaker 1: You know. It's just so.
- 9:24Speaker 3: And also it seems like if you started with thinking
- 9:27Speaker 3: about a formula, you're not going to end up in
- 9:29Speaker 3: a good place. No, But it's because you're thinking more
- 9:32Speaker 3: about like what the audience is going to like, rather
- 9:35Speaker 3: than what you're going to put forth.
- 9:37Speaker 1: Right, I'd love to do Like lately, just going in
- 9:42Speaker 1: with a friend and and and and just been like, well,
- 9:45Speaker 1: just like pick any song and just kind of like,
- 9:47Speaker 1: you know, we picked by your Side by Shah Day
- 9:49Speaker 1: not long ago, and like and just like what is it?
- 9:52Speaker 1: What a good song? Like why like why is it
- 9:54Speaker 1: so much better than all other songs at that same
- 9:56Speaker 1: tempo with the same chorus it gets.
- 9:58Speaker 3: It's her voice delivers, Yeah.
- 10:02Speaker 1: It's it's it's impossible to totally obviously it's her, you know,
- 10:06Speaker 1: but it's like, yeah, but why is that song of
- 10:08Speaker 1: her stand out so much from even her catalog? You know,
- 10:13Speaker 1: it's like, well, there's so many people that have one
- 10:16Speaker 1: song that just like is ten times bigger than the
- 10:19Speaker 1: rest of their entire catalog, or you know, what is it?
- 10:22Speaker 1: What is it about that one that thing. It is fun.
- 10:25Speaker 1: It's just fun to like kind of try to see
- 10:28Speaker 1: if you can decipher magic. You know, if you can,
- 10:31Speaker 1: if you can figure it out. But you can't. You
- 10:34Speaker 1: just you can't. I mean, but but it is everything
- 10:37Speaker 1: you've you're listening to every song we that is like
- 10:40Speaker 1: was them trying something, probably listening to a bunch of
- 10:43Speaker 1: other things and trying to put put together common to
- 10:45Speaker 1: the air combination, and occasionally the alchemy turns. It's it's
- 10:49Speaker 1: black magic. It totally as you still know, you know.
- 10:52Speaker 3: Yeah, I was thinking about it from the perspective of
- 10:55Speaker 3: a listener, like if I sit down and listen to
- 10:57Speaker 3: your new album, you sort of take for granted that,
- 11:00Speaker 3: like somebody actually created this from silence. Sometimes you just
- 11:06Speaker 3: assume like things always existed, like uh huh, there was
- 11:09Speaker 3: a time when hey, Jude didn't exist, Like somebody wrote
- 11:14Speaker 3: that and made that music.
- 11:15Speaker 1: My daughter and I were like driving around, we just
- 11:18Speaker 1: drive around for hours just listening to songs, and she's
- 11:21Speaker 1: she's in that she's in that phase where she's just
- 11:23Speaker 1: like really like songs are magic to her. Now. I say,
- 11:26Speaker 1: it's like it's it's blooming. And she's she's fourteen, and
- 11:30Speaker 1: and so we were listening to the Wise Blood album
- 11:33Speaker 1: a lot. We were listening to and she's learning that
- 11:35Speaker 1: on guitar. But then we were like started listening to
- 11:37Speaker 1: some Beatles and stuff and just like and hey, Jude,
- 11:40Speaker 1: it's just like, oh my god, it starts out one
- 11:42Speaker 1: way and then at the end he's just like he's
- 11:44Speaker 1: just a nut job at the end, just like riffing
- 11:46Speaker 1: and just like, dude, Yeah, it's almost ridiculous at the end.
- 11:53Speaker 1: And yeah, but the idea that like it started from
- 11:56Speaker 1: nothing and then it's there, you know, and.
- 11:58Speaker 3: Like there was a time when that song did not exist.
- 12:01Speaker 1: It's fun, it's funny, it's crazy totally.
- 12:03Speaker 3: So I'm just curious with the national like with making
- 12:06Speaker 3: this new album, Like it sounds like before or you
- 12:09Speaker 3: started recording it, you know, maybe you were going through
- 12:12Speaker 3: some sort of like writer's block. That's that's the story
- 12:14Speaker 3: that I'm hearing. Yeah, and that was somehow unlocked by
- 12:18Speaker 3: you reading Frankenstein. Is that a true story?
- 12:22Speaker 1: It is true. I was in a really long writer's block,
- 12:26Speaker 1: like I'd never been. It was it was a I
- 12:28Speaker 1: couldn't write. I mean, I don't know to I mean,
- 12:30Speaker 1: it was it was caused by whatever, like self loathing
- 12:34Speaker 1: and depression and all that stuff I put up. Yeah,
- 12:36Speaker 1: I went into a phase where I just couldn't. I
- 12:37Speaker 1: just like I didn't want to write. I was sick
- 12:39Speaker 1: of writing about myself all that stuff. And I won't
- 12:43Speaker 1: say there was any one thing that unlocked it. It
- 12:46Speaker 1: was mostly just kind of reconnecting with the band and
- 12:49Speaker 1: and just kind of pushing through it in time and
- 12:51Speaker 1: then and it started slowly coming back. But when it
- 12:54Speaker 1: when it started coming back, one song that I was
- 12:57Speaker 1: just like, the music came. It was new music that
- 13:00Speaker 1: had just been sent and I was kind of like, okay,
- 13:03Speaker 1: Like I I just wanted to fresh, fresh words in
- 13:07Speaker 1: my head. So sometimes I'll just go and grab literally
- 13:11Speaker 1: anything a magazine and anything and just like look at word,
- 13:15Speaker 1: just skim it and just like until a word or something,
- 13:17Speaker 1: just like whatever. It's just it's trying to just like
- 13:20Speaker 1: shake them, shake the trees and see if an animal
- 13:23Speaker 1: falls out right. And so, yeah, Franken Sang was the
- 13:26Speaker 1: book I just randomly picked. And the words like tranquilize
- 13:30Speaker 1: an ocean and this whole stuff about like the poles.
- 13:34Speaker 1: It all starts out in the Arctic and so I
- 13:37Speaker 1: started kind of just writing some imagery about that, but
- 13:39Speaker 1: it was all I think it was imagery that I
- 13:42Speaker 1: was I was kind of using that imagery to write
- 13:44Speaker 1: about my brain and write about my feeling lost and
- 13:47Speaker 1: frozen and disconnected. And so the song is your mind
- 13:52Speaker 1: is not your friend. But that phrase was just something
- 13:55Speaker 1: that my wife Grin had been had been saying, he
- 13:58Speaker 1: had been echoing to me over the past year when
- 14:01Speaker 1: I was in this phase, and I just like thought,
- 14:03Speaker 1: like you know, I was, I was like, I don't
- 14:04Speaker 1: know if I can ever do it. I don't like,
- 14:06Speaker 1: I don't know if I can write anymore. I don't
- 14:08Speaker 1: know if I can go on stage anymore. I don't
- 14:10Speaker 1: know if I can tour anymore. I don't know if
- 14:13Speaker 1: I can do any of it anymore. I was just
- 14:14Speaker 1: I was feeling paralyzed by not just the writer's block,
- 14:19Speaker 1: but all of it, you know, just like everything was
- 14:21Speaker 1: like I didn't there was a phase I didn't want
- 14:23Speaker 1: to write. I didn't want to I didn't want to
- 14:26Speaker 1: listen to anything, you know, I couldn't listen to anything.
- 14:28Speaker 1: But when I started to break through a little bit
- 14:31Speaker 1: and those guys started sending me a bunch of news
- 14:33Speaker 1: like like, oh, he's working again. The rest of the
- 14:35Speaker 1: band started like hurry up, like like send him new stuff.
- 14:38Speaker 1: He's he's plugged in again. And and and the music
- 14:41Speaker 1: for your mind is that your Friend was one of
- 14:43Speaker 1: those kind of new ones that came and and I
- 14:45Speaker 1: wrote it really fast. Yeah, and it was triggered. But
- 14:49Speaker 1: I can't remember which song of the of the record
- 14:51Speaker 1: I know. I know Once upon a pool Side was
- 14:54Speaker 1: one of them that that was like, okay, finally a
- 14:56Speaker 1: song came. And I think it was when I just
- 14:58Speaker 1: started writing directly about the things I was, you know,
- 15:01Speaker 1: my fears and everything.
- 15:03Speaker 3: Yeah. I'm curious what your wife says when you're in
- 15:06Speaker 3: that place when she's trying to encourage you and you
- 15:08Speaker 3: tell her like I can't go back on stage, I
- 15:10Speaker 3: can't write. This might be the end of it.
- 15:13Speaker 1: She was always like, that's totally fine. That is totally fine,
- 15:16Speaker 1: you know, And I was like, thank god, you know,
- 15:18Speaker 1: And I was like, it's not totally fine. You don't
- 15:20Speaker 1: understand how not fine that is. It won't be good
- 15:22Speaker 1: for me, it won't be good for anybody. It's bad.
- 15:24Speaker 1: It's that And she's like nobody wants and the band
- 15:28Speaker 1: was like that too. Everybody's like there's I was. I
- 15:31Speaker 1: wasn't getting any pressure from anybody except for myself, So.
- 15:34Speaker 3: You didn't feel like let off the hook, like, okay,
- 15:36Speaker 3: cool now I can just like.
- 15:38Speaker 1: No, I was let off the hook. I've always been
- 15:41Speaker 1: let off the like like nobody none of us will
- 15:44Speaker 1: ever Nobody in the band or I think none of
- 15:46Speaker 1: our partners or whatever, nobody's got anybody on a hook.
- 15:51Speaker 1: We all we all do this because we want to
- 15:53Speaker 1: do it. And yeah, when I when I couldn't do
- 15:56Speaker 1: it, it wasn't that I didn't want I wanted to be
- 15:59Speaker 1: able to do it. I wanted to want to do it.
- 16:02Speaker 1: I really wanted to want to do it, but I
- 16:05Speaker 1: I couldn't and I couldn't. The idea of like getting
- 16:07Speaker 1: on stage made me you know almost you know, sick,
- 16:11Speaker 1: you know, like like just just so much anxiety that, yeah,
- 16:14Speaker 1: walk in even go to the airport, you know, into
- 16:16Speaker 1: the face. I just like it wasn't like flying. I
- 16:18Speaker 1: was just like did like I did not want to go.
- 16:21Speaker 1: I did not want to go out into the world
- 16:22Speaker 1: or be you know, I wanted to stay unplugged or
- 16:26Speaker 1: but I couldn't. You know so so. And then I
- 16:29Speaker 1: was terrified that ship it's been it's been unplugged for
- 16:31Speaker 1: so long, and I and it's the machine has stopped
- 16:34Speaker 1: for so long. I don't know if it's ever going
- 16:36Speaker 1: to start again. And then it slowly started.
- 16:39Speaker 3: How did you feel when it started? Were you exhilarated?
- 16:42Speaker 3: Did it feel like those feelings were kind of melting away?
- 16:44Speaker 1: It was slow. It was a slow It wasn't. There
- 16:49Speaker 1: were there were a couple of times. I mean, I
- 16:51Speaker 1: think once upon a pool side the guy in the
- 16:54Speaker 1: band were like nice one, you know, like like you're
- 16:56Speaker 1: like like that when you know, like nobody wanted nobody
- 17:00Speaker 1: wanted to make too much of a deal about it.
- 17:03Speaker 1: When I started to write again, and and and and
- 17:06Speaker 1: it did, it didn't. It wasn't like als in one day,
- 17:08Speaker 1: I woke up and I was like, you know, on fire.
- 17:12Speaker 1: It was. It was, yeah, it was very much, you know,
- 17:15Speaker 1: starting the fire back from rubbing sticks together. But eventually
- 17:19Speaker 1: eventually it warmed up, and you know, yeah, and then
- 17:22Speaker 1: and then and then then I was writing a lot,
- 17:24Speaker 1: and then we were on tour. I was Eucalyptus was
- 17:27Speaker 1: written really fast, and new Order T shirt was written
- 17:30Speaker 1: really fast, and the outcott was written really fast, and
- 17:34Speaker 1: half the songs were written quickly, and then the other
- 17:37Speaker 1: half you know, started and then froze and then you know,
- 17:42Speaker 1: morphed into something later. Yeah.
- 17:44Speaker 3: Okay, so you didn't go back into the sunken place
- 17:48Speaker 3: at a certain point where you out like once the
- 17:51Speaker 3: song started to come.
- 17:52Speaker 1: No, but I got but but I but I got
- 17:55Speaker 1: above it enough to sort of like to be able
- 17:57Speaker 1: to breathe. So that like so that when I sink
- 18:00Speaker 1: back down, know that I you know, so, so I'm
- 18:03Speaker 1: not in the lowest part of it, you know, but
- 18:06Speaker 1: I'm but I'm definitely not. I'm definitely aware that it's
- 18:10Speaker 1: it's it's right there, you know, the water is the
- 18:13Speaker 1: water is always right about here, and sometimes you'll find
- 18:15Speaker 1: yourself and you're like it and I just know, I
- 18:18Speaker 1: know where I am. So I'm just more aware of
- 18:21Speaker 1: the of the when it gets too deep to stand,
- 18:24Speaker 1: you know, and just to back away a little bit.
- 18:26Speaker 1: You know, whatever that is. It's just your brain, it's
- 18:28Speaker 1: just your totally you know.
- 18:31Speaker 3: Does having the songs and having actual tangible creative output,
- 18:35Speaker 3: does that sort of put any gas in your tank?
- 18:39Speaker 1: Yes? Yeah, yeah, I mean the the thing that like
- 18:43Speaker 1: when I when I feel like, oh there's I'm onto something.
- 18:45Speaker 1: This could be this could be great, this could be
- 18:48Speaker 1: a beautiful song. And you always like that that that
- 18:50Speaker 1: first theo's first feelings where you just get get a
- 18:52Speaker 1: even just a melody. Or I mean, there's those guys
- 18:55Speaker 1: send me lots and lots of stuff. So I'm listening
- 18:58Speaker 1: to a lot of music. They're like, if I could
- 18:59Speaker 1: only do something, this could be incredible. But a lot
- 19:02Speaker 1: of times I like, I just can't. And or I
- 19:05Speaker 1: every time I do something, it's what's beautiful about it
- 19:07Speaker 1: goes away. I can ruin it, you know. It's like
- 19:11Speaker 1: it's it's easy to ruin a beautiful white canvas, you know.
- 19:14Speaker 1: Or and their canvases aren't clean. They come already with
- 19:17Speaker 1: so much information, and but sometimes I just cannot dance
- 19:22Speaker 1: with one of their sketches or one of the bits
- 19:24Speaker 1: of music. And and this was like I could hear
- 19:27Speaker 1: when there was when I couldn't write. I was like
- 19:29Speaker 1: I could hear that the music that I was trying
- 19:31Speaker 1: to write to was was good. It wasn't. It wasn't
- 19:35Speaker 1: that it was me I was I was I was
- 19:38Speaker 1: not able to sort of find my way into it,
- 19:41Speaker 1: and that was what was the worst part about it.
- 19:43Speaker 1: But yeah, when a couple of little bits and some
- 19:47Speaker 1: songs in a little phrase or melody like started like, Okay,
- 19:50Speaker 1: well that's good enough, that's a good that's a good
- 19:53Speaker 1: lily pad. That's one little that's one little lego that
- 19:55Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna put over here because I think
- 19:57Speaker 1: I'm gonna use that little lego. You know. The rest
- 19:59Speaker 1: is just a mess, and I don't want to even
- 20:01Speaker 1: look at that pile. But at least that one little lego,
- 20:04Speaker 1: you know. I and then you find another lego, you know,
- 20:06Speaker 1: and then and so yeah, the little tiny bits, little
- 20:09Speaker 1: like it's a little little little lyric or a little
- 20:11Speaker 1: melody or in a little spot in a song somewhere,
- 20:14Speaker 1: we'll be like, ah, if I can build a song
- 20:16Speaker 1: out from around that one little little spark, then it
- 20:20Speaker 1: might end up being the best song I've ever written.
- 20:22Speaker 1: That's the thing about songs. They're like these three little
- 20:25Speaker 1: three and a half minute things that you could start
- 20:28Speaker 1: and you have the sense of like this might be
- 20:30Speaker 1: one like this could be a beautiful song, this could
- 20:33Speaker 1: be imagined, this could be you know, sabotage. This could
- 20:37Speaker 1: be you know, hey, yah whatever, you know, you know
- 20:41Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like when you start on something like
- 20:44Speaker 1: it could be one of the greatest songs I've ever written,
- 20:46Speaker 1: and it could be, Hey, Jude, and almost never is,
- 20:49Speaker 1: you know, but it could be. And that feeling is
- 20:55Speaker 1: when like when a kid first learns like the G
- 20:57Speaker 1: chord for the first time and they're like, holy shit,
- 21:00Speaker 1: I can be Nirvana. You know I did once you
- 21:03Speaker 1: get that first thread. So that's first for me, Like
- 21:07Speaker 1: the songs like just a little like a little bit
- 21:09Speaker 1: where like, ah, that might end up being incredible if
- 21:14Speaker 1: I can, if I can.
- 21:16Speaker 3: So the hope, yeah, just the hope part of it.
- 21:18Speaker 1: The belief that like this could be a beautiful thing
- 21:21Speaker 1: that makes you, makes you and lots of people feel great,
- 21:25Speaker 1: and it could be on the radio and you know
- 21:27Speaker 1: it could be. It's like just stuff that those simple
- 21:29Speaker 1: things you're like, those are such a enough serotonin or
- 21:34Speaker 1: and doorphins get get sent off into your bloodstream that
- 21:38Speaker 1: I just one of the little little things a day
- 21:41Speaker 1: can keep your head above water and then keep you going.
- 21:44Speaker 1: But that's why, you know, that's why like when months
- 21:46Speaker 1: and weeks would go by it, and I didn't have
- 21:47Speaker 1: one of those little things. I was getting none of them,
- 21:49Speaker 1: you know nothing.
- 21:51Speaker 2: We're gonna take a quick break and then we'll be
- 21:53Speaker 2: back with more from Leo Rose and Matt Burninger. We're
- 22:01Speaker 2: back with Matt Burninger and Leo Rose.
- 22:05Speaker 3: Do you have any like wellness practices or anything that
- 22:08Speaker 3: you you do that is supposed to be good for you,
- 22:12Speaker 3: you know, whether it's like exercise or meditation or walks or.
- 22:16Speaker 1: Yeah, I used to ride on my bike and walk,
- 22:19Speaker 1: biking and walking just you know those things. Yeah, just
- 22:24Speaker 1: just just I mean, I think it's it's very well
- 22:28Speaker 1: known that just just moving your body is like just
- 22:31Speaker 1: getting your your body moving, because when your body is moving,
- 22:35Speaker 1: it's not like it's not trying to like, you know,
- 22:37Speaker 1: lose weight or get cardio, just move your body simply
- 22:42Speaker 1: that those gears are at least doing that thing, you know, right.
- 22:45Speaker 1: And so when those gears are doing that thing, your
- 22:48Speaker 1: legs and your legs are moving and you're walking and
- 22:51Speaker 1: you're breathing it out, the part of your brain that
- 22:53Speaker 1: gets anxiety and gets chess can sometimes just like just
- 22:57Speaker 1: slow down and let that thing and then and then
- 22:59Speaker 1: suddenly the rest of the gears start. It just it
- 23:02Speaker 1: greases the wheels, you know, It's like totally And when
- 23:05Speaker 1: you don't do those things, I think the worry part, anxiety,
- 23:10Speaker 1: all the other things that all the other wheels in
- 23:13Speaker 1: your brain that you need are important for survival, all
- 23:16Speaker 1: this kind of stuff, but they just start spinning and
- 23:18Speaker 1: nothing everything else freezes and then you just like you're exhausted,
- 23:22Speaker 1: but you can't sleep because your anxiety wheels are going.
- 23:26Speaker 1: So yeah, I do do other things, but I mean, honestly,
- 23:30Speaker 1: like when you're in a when I was in that
- 23:31Speaker 1: dark face, I didn't want to. I mean, I go,
- 23:33Speaker 1: I'd ride my two blocks and I turn around and
- 23:35Speaker 1: come home. I was like, yeah, I couldn't ride my bike,
- 23:38Speaker 1: I couldn't watch TV, couldn't listen to any music. So
- 23:41Speaker 1: it was a sunken sunken place for sure, sunking place.
- 23:44Speaker 3: Has listening to music with your daughter influenced your writing
- 23:48Speaker 3: at all or the way that you're approaching music, because
- 23:51Speaker 3: it's almost like you get to hear music for the
- 23:53Speaker 3: first time. You know through her ears.
- 23:56Speaker 1: Only that if you try to cater to anybody, you're
- 24:01Speaker 1: gonna fail. Like her bullshit detector for like just sounds
- 24:05Speaker 1: like they're just sounds like they're trying so hard to
- 24:08Speaker 1: make make me think they're cool, or like like lines
- 24:12Speaker 1: that are like seem like you know, seem like great
- 24:16Speaker 1: all caps, you know, great lyrics. She's she's like, ah,
- 24:20Speaker 1: it's a little too much. You know. It's like, oh gosh,
- 24:22Speaker 1: you know, like kids are way more sophisticated than you think.
- 24:27Speaker 1: And and you can't like, well, I mean it's hard
- 24:31Speaker 1: to say. It's like I mean, I mean I don't
- 24:32Speaker 1: want to like there's guilty pleasures, but still her favorite
- 24:37Speaker 1: favorite stuff is more complex or just like the stuff
- 24:41Speaker 1: that's like blurry and weird, and and it's like why
- 24:45Speaker 1: kids love certain scary children's books that are just like
- 24:49Speaker 1: you can't quite figure them out, Like why why do
- 24:51Speaker 1: those resonate so much? It's always the stuff that's a
- 24:54Speaker 1: little creepy, a little spooky, not setting it up, you know,
- 24:58Speaker 1: with an obvious, you know, satisfying thing, like like something
- 25:03Speaker 1: is a little off and a little a little hard
- 25:05Speaker 1: to figure out, like what does that mean? That's the
- 25:07Speaker 1: stuff that sticks with her. So yeah, it's really that's
- 25:11Speaker 1: so it's really inspiring. I was like, oh yeah, I can't.
- 25:14Speaker 1: You can never never phone it in and try to
- 25:16Speaker 1: like market to you know, to a demographic or anything.
- 25:21Speaker 1: You just have to. You really have to be honest
- 25:23Speaker 1: with yourself. Are you are you interesting? Are being interesting
- 25:27Speaker 1: to yourself? Because even twelve year olds can tell when
- 25:31Speaker 1: you're when you're pandering.
- 25:33Speaker 3: Do you play her music you're working on?
- 25:35Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah?
- 25:37Speaker 3: Does she? What does she tend to tell you?
- 25:39Speaker 1: She's always excited. She's always I mean, she's I mean,
- 25:42Speaker 1: she does really like it. And but it's like I'll
- 25:44Speaker 1: play it just because because occasionally she'll like like not
- 25:47Speaker 1: like something, and and she's she's definitely not being nice,
- 25:52Speaker 1: you know, because she sees, well Krin and I talk
- 25:54Speaker 1: about it all the time, so she sees how not
- 25:58Speaker 1: precious I am I and she sees how both of us,
- 26:01Speaker 1: you know, tear about TV shows and tear apart movies
- 26:04Speaker 1: and like, you know, like we're cruel with this stuff
- 26:06Speaker 1: just because that's what you do.
- 26:07Speaker 3: It's it's sounds like my house.
- 26:10Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that's it's like because when something's great,
- 26:13Speaker 1: like it has to be celebrated, and like in the
- 26:15Speaker 1: mystery of why something is great, you just have to
- 26:18Speaker 1: you have to dig into it.
- 26:20Speaker 3: It really is easier to talk shit about something describe
- 26:24Speaker 3: how incredible something is.
- 26:27Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean mostly when I'm writing, I'm just trying
- 26:30Speaker 1: to avoid being terrible. I mean, like you try to
- 26:33Speaker 1: write something and like like it's terrible. It's like you
- 26:35Speaker 1: try to sing a melody, It's like it's terrible. Certainly,
- 26:38Speaker 1: wait that's wait, maybe something there and then you find
- 26:40Speaker 1: And so it's always for me, it's always I step
- 26:45Speaker 1: into the ugly, you know, I just step out and
- 26:47Speaker 1: it's always ugly, or it's always it's very rarely a
- 26:51Speaker 1: lyric or even a melody ever ever quite. It takes
- 26:55Speaker 1: a lot of stepping in this way, that way, this
- 26:57Speaker 1: way a little bit and adjustment and listening over and
- 27:00Speaker 1: over and throwing it away. Like when I I write,
- 27:03Speaker 1: you know, I'll put in a sketch from those guys
- 27:05Speaker 1: and it's usually pretty simple. Sometimes it's not even it's
- 27:08Speaker 1: just one part, you know, it's like you know, three,
- 27:10Speaker 1: three or four chords like repeated, and I will I'll
- 27:14Speaker 1: just start trying to sing to it, and I'll just
- 27:16Speaker 1: track after track, layer after layer. I just like I
- 27:19Speaker 1: have fifteen fifteen things that I'm just like just free
- 27:23Speaker 1: associating and singing gobbledygook over and then I'll go back
- 27:28Speaker 1: and listen and it's like most of it's all terrible,
- 27:32Speaker 1: and it's just like, oh, that one little spot is.
- 27:34Speaker 3: Like kind of like the melody is terrible, or the
- 27:37Speaker 3: words are terrible, the lyrics are terrible.
- 27:38Speaker 1: It's usually melody, you know. I'm always like looking for melody,
- 27:42Speaker 1: not worrying about words. And then later I will try
- 27:45Speaker 1: to put words to it, and I kind of write separately.
- 27:47Speaker 1: I'll write little bits and pieces and then I'll see
- 27:50Speaker 1: it fits in a song, and then I'll listen to
- 27:53Speaker 1: to like what it sounds like I'm saying, and like
- 27:56Speaker 1: go in that mode and just try to like write
- 27:58Speaker 1: around what it kind of sounds like I'm saying and
- 28:00Speaker 1: craft that it's it. It's like I kend go about
- 28:03Speaker 1: it like all different ways. But almost never am I like, oh,
- 28:07Speaker 1: like like step right in and like oh that's feeling good,
- 28:10Speaker 1: and like a song comes out. It's usually like it's
- 28:13Speaker 1: just always trying to avoid stuff that sounds cliche or
- 28:18Speaker 1: you're trying too hard, or your sound too bored, or
- 28:21Speaker 1: you you sound too energetic? Are you like it's just
- 28:24Speaker 1: a million a million little dials, you know.
- 28:27Speaker 3: But that seems good though, because at least it's the
- 28:29Speaker 3: opposite of being paralyzed, Like that's very active. Yeah, and
- 28:33Speaker 3: just trying and trying and trying, and kind of like reiterating,
- 28:37Speaker 3: do you have any sort of rituals or any things
- 28:41Speaker 3: that you put yourself through to get into a space
- 28:44Speaker 3: where it's easier to write. We had Rivers Cuomo on
- 28:48Speaker 3: the show, and he talked about how he tried sort
- 28:51Speaker 3: of like a deprivation technique where he would lock himself
- 28:54Speaker 3: in a bathroom for like two days and like not eat,
- 28:59Speaker 3: just to try and like bring about creativity that way.
- 29:02Speaker 3: And that's obviously extreme.
- 29:04Speaker 1: Mh.
- 29:04Speaker 3: But is there anything that you do, like even if
- 29:07Speaker 3: it's like drink a little something, smoke something and then
- 29:10Speaker 3: you're in this space?
- 29:12Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, I mean I don't have I don't try
- 29:15Speaker 1: to force it. I mean, when I was in that
- 29:18Speaker 1: long phase where nothing has happened, I realized that, like,
- 29:20Speaker 1: oh God, if you can't just sit around, it's it's weird.
- 29:24Speaker 1: It's like I couldn't, I couldn't turn it on. And
- 29:27Speaker 1: I kept trying, and I guess, I guess if I
- 29:29Speaker 1: hadn't keep trying to turn it on. It may have
- 29:32Speaker 1: never come on, and so you do have to sort
- 29:35Speaker 1: of I did have to force it. I guess. Eventually
- 29:37Speaker 1: I had to go to the studio those guys. I
- 29:38Speaker 1: had to go in the booth and the microphone was
- 29:40Speaker 1: on hand to try put something on down on record,
- 29:43Speaker 1: you know, and that's it wasn't until then until the
- 29:46Speaker 1: really started happening. So I did. Like just just getting
- 29:49Speaker 1: in there and doing it is really the only thing
- 29:53Speaker 1: sometimes when it's not happening at all that you can do.
- 29:56Speaker 1: I don't know, just get in front of a microphone.
- 29:57Speaker 1: But again, I will say, I kind of just have
- 30:02Speaker 1: to get into a comfortable place with it, and I
- 30:05Speaker 1: will most of the time I'm writing, like on a
- 30:08Speaker 1: couch or in bed, headphones on and like just listen
- 30:11Speaker 1: to stuff and just trying to zone out. Yeah, and
- 30:13Speaker 1: sometimes I'll smoke some weed sometimes I'll you know, I don't. Yeah,
- 30:17Speaker 1: I'll drink a little bit of wine sometimes like that.
- 30:19Speaker 1: But I kind of I like it in the mode
- 30:21Speaker 1: where you know, iced tea and weed works really great,
- 30:25Speaker 1: you know, and kind of in the middle of the day,
- 30:27Speaker 1: in the middle of the day and those weird moments
- 30:29Speaker 1: those kind of.
- 30:29Speaker 3: Like like light up or downer.
- 30:31Speaker 1: Yeah, just a light I try to like just get
- 30:34Speaker 1: I don't write well when I'm like loaded. I mean
- 30:37Speaker 1: sometimes sometimes have.
- 30:38Speaker 3: You ever recorded or written or recorded something when you're
- 30:42Speaker 3: just like loaded, and you probably think it sounds really
- 30:45Speaker 3: really good or maybe it's really deep, Like what is
- 30:48Speaker 3: that experience?
- 30:49Speaker 1: Like I like that. That's a good question. I'm trying
- 30:52Speaker 1: to write. It's hard to I mean, yeah, I used
- 30:55Speaker 1: I used to. My favorite thing in the world to
- 30:57Speaker 1: do was get a six pack and a pack of
- 31:00Speaker 1: cigarettes and listen to records. And I have a notebook
- 31:05Speaker 1: and just like just filling notebooks and just writing and
- 31:08Speaker 1: writing right and listening and just and and and it
- 31:11Speaker 1: was just like it was great. This is what can
- 31:13Speaker 1: I say? It just it was it was so much fun.
- 31:16Speaker 1: But I but I don't do it like that anymore,
- 31:18Speaker 1: just because it's like I feel like shit if I drink,
- 31:21Speaker 1: drink or smoke that much stuff, you know, and so
- 31:23Speaker 1: so yeah, it's a it's a healthier thing. And and
- 31:26Speaker 1: I do it's it's good to ride to ride bike
- 31:28Speaker 1: and I'll smoke some weed and ride my bike and
- 31:30Speaker 1: and and and if I get in a mode, I'll
- 31:32Speaker 1: be I'll be pulling over every two minutes to like write,
- 31:36Speaker 1: just to text myself a little thing, a little lyric
- 31:39Speaker 1: or a little line. So that's that's kind of how
- 31:42Speaker 1: it works. Like I like to get into kind of meditative,
- 31:46Speaker 1: rhythmic zone. I won't sit there and try to like
- 31:49Speaker 1: craft architect a song. I'll like, I'll get a little
- 31:52Speaker 1: bit I like and then I'll sing it over and
- 31:53Speaker 1: over and over again, and you know, on a loop
- 31:55Speaker 1: and just just kind of just just practicing the rhythm
- 31:58Speaker 1: of a of a of a you know, practicing a swing.
- 32:01Speaker 1: You just kind of keep doing it until you get
- 32:03Speaker 1: the kind of rhythm right and the tone of it right.
- 32:05Speaker 1: And I'll do that and that's probably because I'm you're
- 32:08Speaker 1: stoned and you're just kinda in that mode just like
- 32:10Speaker 1: you can you can marvel at the same lego like
- 32:12Speaker 1: for a while totally, but it's good. But you manage
- 32:16Speaker 1: to kind of, you know, get that stone just right.
- 32:20Speaker 1: So when you when you're gonna put it into the
- 32:21Speaker 1: end of the you know, another brick in the wall, whatever,
- 32:25Speaker 1: it's like you gotta get that break just right. And
- 32:27Speaker 1: other times it's then you're like, okay, now I've filled this.
- 32:31Speaker 1: This sketch is only three minutes long, but I've got
- 32:34Speaker 1: seventeen different melody options.
- 32:36Speaker 3: Right, It's like, there's wow, are they all original melodies?
- 32:39Speaker 1: Like?
- 32:40Speaker 3: How do you know they don't come from I would
- 32:43Speaker 3: hope they don't, But it seems like it was just
- 32:45Speaker 3: sort of a natural thing to happen.
- 32:46Speaker 1: I don't know, you just think it's a weird thing.
- 32:48Speaker 1: There'd be like you can start almost anywhere. It's like,
- 32:51Speaker 1: I mean, I used to think like, okay, here's a guitar,
- 32:54Speaker 1: here's some guitar chords and a beat in a rhythm.
- 32:56Speaker 1: It's like, okay, well, there's only so many things I
- 32:58Speaker 1: can do. I learned a longer. You guys like, oh shit,
- 33:00Speaker 1: you can. You may feel like you're cornered in with something.
- 33:05Speaker 1: It's like you can start anywhere on it. You can,
- 33:07Speaker 1: like you it's it's almost infinite. How many I mean
- 33:11Speaker 1: you can you can start on a note that rubs
- 33:13Speaker 1: against whatever notes are there and and play with that
- 33:16Speaker 1: that way. It's like you can you can put any
- 33:18Speaker 1: kind of color onto any kind of canvas and try.
- 33:21Speaker 1: You know, sometimes it's just it's just not a it's
- 33:24Speaker 1: just doesn't feel right, you know, it just doesn't feel
- 33:26Speaker 1: the personality of it, like I always though about the
- 33:28Speaker 1: personality of songs. It's just like the personality doesn't feel
- 33:32Speaker 1: like me, you know, or I didn't feel like I
- 33:34Speaker 1: wasn't in that zone. I can't, I can't quite get
- 33:36Speaker 1: even though it's I like that personality, but it's just like,
- 33:40Speaker 1: that's not what I need now, that's not the that's
- 33:43Speaker 1: not the character I need to to talk to right now,
- 33:48Speaker 1: you know. It's that's that's that's what the songs are like.
- 33:50Speaker 1: They're like they're like a partner that that you have
- 33:53Speaker 1: to sort of like dance with, and and some you know,
- 33:55Speaker 1: some people you like are in rhythm with, and some
- 33:58Speaker 1: like you know, some sketches that Aaron Aaron sent me
- 34:01Speaker 1: ended up, you know, on other people's records in our
- 34:03Speaker 1: huge hits.
- 34:04Speaker 3: You know. It's like, oh, like, what's an example of that.
- 34:06Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know. There's there's a bunch of
- 34:09Speaker 1: I think Cardigan and Willow and some other ones. I
- 34:13Speaker 1: had been taken a whack at some ideas or at
- 34:17Speaker 1: one point those were in a batch that I was like,
- 34:19Speaker 1: I couldn't I couldn't do anything too and I still
- 34:22Speaker 1: it's like I've listened to those I studied those songs.
- 34:25Speaker 1: It's like, oh, look what she did with.
- 34:26Speaker 3: Those songs, right, I was gonna say, yeah, like that
- 34:29Speaker 3: must be interesting.
- 34:30Speaker 1: Yeah, because I've I've got things like like that are
- 34:35Speaker 1: just really different melody and and and and written like
- 34:40Speaker 1: places that like totally different songs. And it's like that's
- 34:43Speaker 1: one of those things that's really really uh, really kind
- 34:46Speaker 1: of fun about about songs and what we were talking
- 34:49Speaker 1: about before. Like for example, when we when I go
- 34:51Speaker 1: in and say like, okay, here, here's you know, by
- 34:53Speaker 1: your side by Shahda, I mean you could learn it.
- 34:57Speaker 1: First you learn it and then you get Okay, that's
- 34:59Speaker 1: that song. But like to kind of like try do
- 35:01Speaker 1: a song that's kind of in the zone, it's like
- 35:04Speaker 1: really really hard to match a zone of a thing,
- 35:08Speaker 1: you know. It's it's kind of I mean, you can
- 35:09Speaker 1: kind of match it, but it's.
- 35:10Speaker 3: Like, do you mean if you were to try and
- 35:13Speaker 3: cover it or make something in a similar vein you can.
- 35:16Speaker 1: Cover, but like even covering songs does not mean that
- 35:21Speaker 1: song is gonna have any of that magic that that
- 35:23Speaker 1: Ridge that one did. It's weird. So I'm saying it's like,
- 35:27Speaker 1: I'm never nervous about somebody thing. Oh you stole that
- 35:30Speaker 1: from like like maybe yeah, maybe, Like like that, every
- 35:34Speaker 1: little every single I mean everything that you hear is
- 35:38Speaker 1: has taken and re recrafted. And it's not even like
- 35:41Speaker 1: they try hard. It's like it's kind of impossible to
- 35:44Speaker 1: like you change one little thing, everything starts to change,
- 35:46Speaker 1: you know. So I always listening to the Miley Cyrus
- 35:51Speaker 1: Flowers and she even talks about what was that. It
- 35:54Speaker 1: was like it's her biggest song, I think flowers now,
- 35:56Speaker 1: and it's like she was sort of ripping off the
- 36:00Speaker 1: Bruno Mars song or something up to be No be
- 36:04Speaker 1: Your Man, I want to be Your Man or something
- 36:06Speaker 1: like that. His his biggest song. He's like a billion
- 36:09Speaker 1: and a half, you know, listens and like, oh yeah,
- 36:13Speaker 1: there's there's that little section right there. I mean the
- 36:15Speaker 1: lyrics are I mean, flowers rhyming, flowers with hours and
- 36:20Speaker 1: and hand with sand are all there. You know. She
- 36:24Speaker 1: could definitely just like took all that and reaf you know,
- 36:26Speaker 1: and she talks about it. That's the best way to
- 36:28Speaker 1: approach it, because like it's the other ones, they're both giant,
- 36:31Speaker 1: massive songs. And you're like, oh yeah, there's that little
- 36:33Speaker 1: part where like, oh yeah, you can hear that note
- 36:36Speaker 1: on that thing, there's there's that little fragment that definitely
- 36:39Speaker 1: was taken from that. But I don't like, I don't
- 36:42Speaker 1: like that's that's how everything's made, you know, kind of
- 36:45Speaker 1: like I I think that's uh, And so I think
- 36:48Speaker 1: I do that probably more than I realize. But it's
- 36:53Speaker 1: usually I often sing other people's lyrics to music just
- 36:58Speaker 1: because it's impossible. Often songs tempo and time signature or
- 37:03Speaker 1: chords or whatever one lyrics will you just it forces
- 37:07Speaker 1: you to change everything around, you know, just uh, and
- 37:10Speaker 1: you change melody and everything changes, and then and then
- 37:13Speaker 1: you find your own you know, and then those those
- 37:15Speaker 1: words that you started with somebody else just just just
- 37:18Speaker 1: just disappear, and your own things just sort of grow
- 37:21Speaker 1: in the cracks of that you made around it. I
- 37:23Speaker 1: don't know, it's the process is usually incredibly fun, really,
- 37:28Speaker 1: and that's why I like in that phase where I
- 37:31Speaker 1: just like I was heartbroken over the loss of my
- 37:34Speaker 1: love for it. That was such a bummer, like to
- 37:37Speaker 1: like to not for even music, not not to give
- 37:41Speaker 1: me that thrill or that serotonin or that endorphin or
- 37:44Speaker 1: that little stuff.
- 37:46Speaker 2: We'll be back after another quick break with more from
- 37:48Speaker 2: Leo Rose and Matt Berninger. We're back with the rest
- 37:56Speaker 2: of Lea Rose's conversation with The Nationals. Matt Berninger, Is.
- 38:02Speaker 3: It true that there's sort of like an unwritten rule
- 38:05Speaker 3: in the band that people don't directly ask you about
- 38:07Speaker 3: the meaning behind your lyrics?
- 38:09Speaker 1: I didn't know. They don't. They almost never do. I
- 38:14Speaker 1: don't think they ever do.
- 38:15Speaker 3: Does anyone ask you if you're.
- 38:17Speaker 1: Like fans do and and journalists do, and there's no rule,
- 38:21Speaker 1: but no, the guys usually don't. Yeah, they don't. I
- 38:26Speaker 1: don't think I don't. I'd have to think about when
- 38:32Speaker 1: any of those guys ever asked me.
- 38:34Speaker 3: Do you care what they think about your lyrics?
- 38:36Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, totally, of course. Yeah. I'm always trying to
- 38:41Speaker 1: impress them. Yeah.
- 38:42Speaker 3: Is there some when you're writing? Is there somebody in
- 38:44Speaker 3: your mind who you're trying to impress or you're writing for?
- 38:48Speaker 1: Yeah, those guys in Krin, you know, and and yeah,
- 38:52Speaker 1: and my daughter and and and the appears you know. Yeah,
- 38:56Speaker 1: I want to I want to impress all the walkman.
- 38:59Speaker 1: I want to impress Phoebe Bridges. I want to you know,
- 39:02Speaker 1: I went Taylor Swift to to to be as impressed
- 39:06Speaker 1: by me as I am by her, you know. And
- 39:08Speaker 1: so yeah, I want to be loved. I want to
- 39:11Speaker 1: be I want to be adored and I want to
- 39:14Speaker 1: be But that's the that's the what's such a funny thing.
- 39:17Speaker 1: It's like, if you try to write with that purpose,
- 39:22Speaker 1: you're gonna sound desperate, you know, so to be truly
- 39:25Speaker 1: adored and to be for other, your other your favorite artists,
- 39:30Speaker 1: to get to actually really like what you're doing, you
- 39:33Speaker 1: have to do weird ship that is a little maybe
- 39:35Speaker 1: uncomfortable and scary and maybe isn't isn't gonna work, you know.
- 39:40Speaker 1: That's that's what's gonna impress the walkman, that's what's gonna
- 39:43Speaker 1: impress you know, my wife, and and and and and
- 39:47Speaker 1: and then that's what the band wants, Like the band
- 39:49Speaker 1: doesn't want our band doesn't want necessarily want a hit
- 39:53Speaker 1: if it's not real, if it doesn't feel like kind
- 39:56Speaker 1: of real to us.
- 39:58Speaker 3: I was wondering with Karin, like when she hears things
- 40:01Speaker 3: that you've written, if you're writing about an old love
- 40:05Speaker 3: or loving someone missing somebody, is she ever, like, who
- 40:09Speaker 3: are you talking about?
- 40:11Speaker 1: No, she's When we first started dating, I was in
- 40:16Speaker 1: the middle of writing all these songs, you know, a
- 40:19Speaker 1: bunch of songs. You know that that she's kind of
- 40:22Speaker 1: like right away was kind of like so into all
- 40:25Speaker 1: of it, like the writing of songs. So it's always
- 40:27Speaker 1: been that way. And and I've also been mostly writing
- 40:33Speaker 1: about her, you know. It's like or the band or yeah.
- 40:36Speaker 1: But then there's the like sometimes songs are not autobiographical, obviously,
- 40:42Speaker 1: but they're but there's sort of exercises and looking into
- 40:46Speaker 1: a window or looking or looking over over the edge
- 40:49Speaker 1: of something, and like Eucalyptus or whatever is obviously a
- 40:54Speaker 1: song about about splitting up things. And and and I
- 40:58Speaker 1: think it's kind of a funny song about like, you know,
- 41:01Speaker 1: like all the things like how do you how do
- 41:03Speaker 1: you split up your water subscription? You know, But so
- 41:07Speaker 1: you're writing writing about breaking up is a way of
- 41:11Speaker 1: sort of like of confronting your fears. You know. It's
- 41:14Speaker 1: like and like once upon a pool Side, and like
- 41:17Speaker 1: a lot of those record is is really like the
- 41:20Speaker 1: fear of maybe that the band being over. And it's
- 41:24Speaker 1: very romantic. Generally, there'll be bits and pieces of the
- 41:26Speaker 1: songs that like in this usually well much later, like
- 41:29Speaker 1: after the record's out and after finally it's all finished,
- 41:32Speaker 1: where like yeah, wasn't that again? And you know what,
- 41:35Speaker 1: you know, like it'll be way later, but in the
- 41:37Speaker 1: middle of the creative process, if it's good, if it's like,
- 41:40Speaker 1: that's great, like that's all we that's all we ever
- 41:43Speaker 1: talked about. Sometimes sometimes much later, once the art is finished,
- 41:48Speaker 1: we'll be like, maybe we should talk about that a
- 41:51Speaker 1: little bit, you know.
- 41:52Speaker 3: Yeah, I was wondering, Yah, is there ever an instance
- 41:55Speaker 3: where you write a lyric and it's the beginning of
- 41:57Speaker 3: something that might almost be subconscious, but then it ultimately
- 42:01Speaker 3: comes true later.
- 42:03Speaker 1: I mean, what you made me think of is maybe
- 42:05Speaker 1: not what you're asking, but I I do, I do,
- 42:09Speaker 1: And I did feel that maybe all of this writing,
- 42:13Speaker 1: of all these making these big you know, these beautiful
- 42:17Speaker 1: things out of uncomfortable feelings that I've been doing for
- 42:20Speaker 1: twenty years and you know, we're on the ninth record
- 42:23Speaker 1: or whatever, and plus all the other like so, I mean,
- 42:25Speaker 1: so like writing hundreds of songs about some of this stuff,
- 42:30Speaker 1: I was like, am I manifesting this character? Am I becoming?
- 42:33Speaker 1: Am I am I did I create this, this, this
- 42:37Speaker 1: sad sack, you know, because I write about it so much?
- 42:41Speaker 3: Do you think you did? Like where did you land
- 42:43Speaker 3: with that question?
- 42:44Speaker 1: It's in between, It's like yes, But I also write
- 42:47Speaker 1: all these songs because like like I am that way
- 42:50Speaker 1: and have that way and and and that's how I
- 42:53Speaker 1: That's how I that's how I survive. That's how I
- 42:55Speaker 1: feel better about life is because I make a little
- 42:58Speaker 1: something some kind of semi enjoyable and kind of fun
- 43:02Speaker 1: and beautiful and moving out of this ugly feeling. You know.
- 43:07Speaker 1: That's what all great love songs. You know, It's like
- 43:09Speaker 1: it's like it's like sad, ugly, uncomfortable feelings. What's a melody?
- 43:15Speaker 1: You know? And and and and that's that All the
- 43:18Speaker 1: best love songs are kind of crushing and and so
- 43:22Speaker 1: I think I do think I'm a much healthier person.
- 43:27Speaker 1: Haven't written all this stuff than have not? You know?
- 43:30Speaker 1: I do know that like other people like listening to
- 43:34Speaker 1: like we talked about, like the artists that we've been
- 43:36Speaker 1: talking about, including example, go back to Tom Waits, I
- 43:40Speaker 1: know that Tom Waits made me mentally healthier. You know,
- 43:44Speaker 1: it made me made me a happier person made me
- 43:47Speaker 1: a made me like myself more, and so did Nick Cave.
- 43:51Speaker 1: So all my favorite artists, you know, make me like
- 43:54Speaker 1: myself a little bit more because they're great about about
- 43:57Speaker 1: writing about what they hate about themselves, and I can
- 43:59Speaker 1: identify with that. And I was like, if that person
- 44:02Speaker 1: hates themselves, like you can say that that terrible thing
- 44:04Speaker 1: about themselves and make it so beautiful. I'm like, oh,
- 44:07Speaker 1: maybe maybe I can make something out of all the
- 44:09Speaker 1: things I hate about myself. So yeah, But then at
- 44:12Speaker 1: a certain time, you know the point of like all
- 44:15Speaker 1: these years, especially getting on stage and performing it and
- 44:17Speaker 1: doing it, you know, and then and then and then
- 44:20Speaker 1: and then having like a fan base, which is like incredible,
- 44:23Speaker 1: Like I have fans, but fans of songs I wrote,
- 44:26Speaker 1: you know, it's like it's it's sometimes you they forget
- 44:30Speaker 1: how like most people don't have fans of songs that
- 44:33Speaker 1: they wrote. You know, it's like an incredible thing. Strangers
- 44:36Speaker 1: that you've never met, like these songs that you wrote,
- 44:39Speaker 1: these things you wrote about your own feelings. You know,
- 44:42Speaker 1: like that's so lucky, you know. And then when people
- 44:45Speaker 1: like say how much they get out of it, and
- 44:48Speaker 1: you see people having these moments and you see people
- 44:50Speaker 1: write to you and tell you like this, and I
- 44:53Speaker 1: get a lot of letters and people say like this,
- 44:55Speaker 1: this stuff actually helped me through a really rough time.
- 44:59Speaker 1: And I'm like, it helped me through a rough time.
- 45:01Speaker 1: And then I think of all the other artists that
- 45:02Speaker 1: helped me, that their records help me, and I'm like like,
- 45:05Speaker 1: oh god, yeah, this is all really good, Like this
- 45:07Speaker 1: is a really good thing to do.
- 45:09Speaker 3: Yeah, you're like in service to other people.
- 45:12Speaker 1: A little bit, but mostly myself, you know, mostly like
- 45:15Speaker 1: I'm doing it for my own mental health mostly, but
- 45:18Speaker 1: it is working for other people too. It's helping other
- 45:20Speaker 1: people do for sure, and that's really good. But then
- 45:23Speaker 1: he's like, the night after night after night after night
- 45:25Speaker 1: after night after night, I'm touring and being auto, and
- 45:27Speaker 1: then you get weird. You just get weird.
- 45:29Speaker 3: It can How does it get weird? I heard you
- 45:31Speaker 3: talk about that being on tour can get weird, and
- 45:35Speaker 3: I'm extremely curious about what you mean about that.
- 45:37Speaker 1: Honestly, I think it's just mostly exhaustion. But then I
- 45:43Speaker 1: think it's I think it's the turning on and then
- 45:45Speaker 1: turning off. It's like to turn for me to get
- 45:49Speaker 1: into show mode to turn on to do that for
- 45:52Speaker 1: like a two hour you know, give or take performance.
- 45:56Speaker 1: Like it's not it doesn't come naturally. It's not like
- 45:59Speaker 1: I'm like I can't wait to get out there. It's
- 46:00Speaker 1: like it's bracing. It's I have to. I have to.
- 46:03Speaker 1: It's on my mind all day. I have to. It's
- 46:05Speaker 1: on my mind. It's like it's it's like every day
- 46:08Speaker 1: is sort of like you're doing like a mini wedding.
- 46:11Speaker 1: You gotta get ready, like to you know, just trying
- 46:13Speaker 1: to like can I get ready for it? It's and you
- 46:15Speaker 1: have to entertain. You have to. You don't know. You
- 46:18Speaker 1: might wake up in a great mood, but then like
- 46:20Speaker 1: something like you might by by seven thirty, you know,
- 46:23Speaker 1: half an hour before you're supposed to go on stage something.
- 46:26Speaker 1: You just might just be in the most miserable place
- 46:29Speaker 1: for whatever reason.
- 46:30Speaker 3: Just and you're the front man. So it's like all
- 46:32Speaker 3: eyes are on you. You can't kind of just like
- 46:35Speaker 3: play the back and play bass.
- 46:37Speaker 1: Yep.
- 46:38Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's like you and you give it.
- 46:39Speaker 3: You're all you go super hard.
- 46:42Speaker 1: Yeah, And I won't complain it. It's cool. I mean,
- 46:44Speaker 1: like I I it's a funny thing. I'm often miserable
- 46:47Speaker 1: in the spotlight, but I'm usually like like like no, no, no,
- 46:51Speaker 1: over here. You know. It's like it's like, no, don't
- 46:54Speaker 1: look at me, look at.
- 46:54Speaker 3: Me, Like this is my best side.
- 46:55Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm definitely don't look at me, look at me
- 46:58Speaker 1: type of person with a yeah, and I don't have
- 47:00Speaker 1: to get in a zone. And sometimes you drink too
- 47:04Speaker 1: much and something like I like, we don't have any
- 47:06Speaker 1: really terrible, terrible habits and but like, oh yeah, I've
- 47:09Speaker 1: how many times have been like I know now I
- 47:11Speaker 1: know what cocaine's for. You know. It's like, yeah, this
- 47:15Speaker 1: is why people do cocaine because they got to go
- 47:17Speaker 1: do that.
- 47:18Speaker 3: Yeah, you can slip the switch.
- 47:20Speaker 1: Yeah you can flip, but but I don't. I don't
- 47:23Speaker 1: do that, but I do. You know. I have a
- 47:26Speaker 1: few glasses of wine. Sometimes I won't, but those shows
- 47:30Speaker 1: are always like really honestly that the shows I won't
- 47:33Speaker 1: have any I was like, oh, those are if I
- 47:35Speaker 1: don't drink. If I don't drink anything, then I'm in
- 47:37Speaker 1: too inside my head. I think I think one or
- 47:41Speaker 1: two glasses of wine is probably the best. Yeah.
- 47:44Speaker 3: When I was talking to Aaron, he said something at
- 47:46Speaker 3: some point about He's like, yeah, sometimes I think like
- 47:49Speaker 3: I can't believe I'm forty six and I'm still in
- 47:51Speaker 3: a band. That's so embarrassing. Yeah, do you have any
- 47:55Speaker 3: similar feelings like that?
- 47:57Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, we always do. I mean, like we
- 48:00Speaker 1: always listen we play songs or like, does this sound
- 48:03Speaker 1: like we're all trying to like wear skinny jeans. You know,
- 48:05Speaker 1: it's like and even though many of us still we're
- 48:09Speaker 1: skinny jeans, but there is that. The whole pandering thing
- 48:16Speaker 1: is is like we just can't do it, you know,
- 48:19Speaker 1: like we cannot like I can't, I can only write
- 48:23Speaker 1: a certain way, and I mean the answer questions like yeah,
- 48:26Speaker 1: we're often like feeling like we don't want to seem
- 48:31Speaker 1: like we're faking it, or if being on stage singing
- 48:36Speaker 1: a song that you don't really kind of believe or
- 48:40Speaker 1: don't or you know, doesn't feel good. So I think
- 48:45Speaker 1: if we if we started making songs that we felt
- 48:48Speaker 1: we're like, oh, well, we're kind of just putting out
- 48:50Speaker 1: records to service a you know, to service something a
- 48:53Speaker 1: fan base or whatever, like it definitely wouldn't be be enough.
- 48:58Speaker 1: So obviously we're always asking us like are these songs
- 49:02Speaker 1: worth putting out, is it? I know that like we
- 49:05Speaker 1: it's time for another record or it's time for another tour,
- 49:08Speaker 1: you know, according to the healthy economy of a of
- 49:12Speaker 1: a functioning band and all that kind of stuff, you know,
- 49:15Speaker 1: But that has never been the thing that's ever ever
- 49:19Speaker 1: gotten us anywhere in terms of motivating us to make songs.
- 49:22Speaker 1: And it's just the songs. It's like if a song
- 49:25Speaker 1: we like it and we're like, I like that's a
- 49:27Speaker 1: that's a good song. That's a beautiful song. That's why
- 49:30Speaker 1: we're still a band.
- 49:31Speaker 3: Like that's enough too.
- 49:33Speaker 1: Yeah, I won't be able to be the kind of
- 49:36Speaker 1: performer like Micjagger is, you know, because well, I mean
- 49:39Speaker 1: and I think he's genuine, you know, through and through
- 49:42Speaker 1: he is the you know. But I think my show
- 49:49Speaker 1: and thing is like I think has to to age
- 49:54Speaker 1: and evolve with me, mean meaning I used to lose
- 49:58Speaker 1: my mind. I used to smash stuff. I used to like,
- 50:00Speaker 1: you know, I would throw full bottles of wine thirty
- 50:03Speaker 1: feet in the air, you know, and above the band,
- 50:06Speaker 1: above me, and like and like in controlled way where
- 50:09Speaker 1: I would like let it smash the pieces like right
- 50:11Speaker 1: around me, you know, and like and I, you know,
- 50:14Speaker 1: and going out into the crowd, and.
- 50:16Speaker 3: And you go into the crowd.
- 50:19Speaker 1: Yeah, and I go and I do love that. I
- 50:21Speaker 1: might still do that, but if I if I feel
- 50:23Speaker 1: like I'm doing that, because if it's part of the show,
- 50:25Speaker 1: I want to kill myself. You know.
- 50:27Speaker 3: It's like or because it's expected or it's your stick
- 50:30Speaker 3: or something.
- 50:30Speaker 1: Yeah, and and all that stuff kind of becomes a stick.
- 50:33Speaker 1: And I think some of some of the self discussed
- 50:36Speaker 1: was like I was self. I was discussed with my
- 50:38Speaker 1: own shtick, you know, like writing about myself or like
- 50:41Speaker 1: the idea of like doing that show and going out
- 50:44Speaker 1: into the crowd, when I was like, that is not
- 50:46Speaker 1: the person I am right now. I can't go sing
- 50:48Speaker 1: these songs and go into a crowd and entertain people.
- 50:52Speaker 1: I can't even I can barely. I can't watch TV,
- 50:54Speaker 1: you know. I can bear. I'm I'm non verbal. I
- 50:58Speaker 1: can't be an entertainer, you know. So like some show,
- 51:02Speaker 1: I have to sort of just embrace whatever where whatever
- 51:06Speaker 1: I am, you know. And so that's not always is
- 51:09Speaker 1: a great show. I don't know, maybe it is. I
- 51:12Speaker 1: I like watching uncomfortable performers do nothing, you know. I
- 51:16Speaker 1: find that riveting. But yeah, so so there is there's
- 51:22Speaker 1: a there is a there is a little bit of
- 51:24Speaker 1: that of like if it feels like we're going through
- 51:27Speaker 1: the motions and and trying to, you know, put on
- 51:31Speaker 1: the show. If it feels like you know, Phantom of
- 51:33Speaker 1: the Opera, you know that after a while, that's it's
- 51:38Speaker 1: just it's just it's a bummer.
- 51:39Speaker 3: I know that female artists have to deal with this
- 51:41Speaker 3: a lot. But when you've gone out into the crowd
- 51:44Speaker 3: like that, has anything sketchy ever happened to you?
- 51:48Speaker 1: Like, yeah, it gets weird, and like it gets it
- 51:51Speaker 1: gets weird out there. That's why I'm like, I don't
- 51:53Speaker 1: know if I like doing this anymore. It mostly it's
- 51:56Speaker 1: almost all love and people just like that's the other thing.
- 51:58Speaker 1: It's like it's people just crushed together and sing and
- 52:02Speaker 1: and you're getting in your singing their hearts out, and
- 52:04Speaker 1: it's people having an incredible moment and I am too.
- 52:08Speaker 1: But then sometimes but but it gets scary. You know,
- 52:12Speaker 1: it gets scary when when I'm just like that many
- 52:14Speaker 1: bodies and the crush of people, so that and then
- 52:17Speaker 1: obviously there's a lot of people that just want to
- 52:18Speaker 1: hang on you and just like want to like you
- 52:20Speaker 1: want to spend the like spend the whole time with you,
- 52:23Speaker 1: and like I was like, you know what this is.
- 52:24Speaker 1: I'm doing this kind of for me and for like
- 52:27Speaker 1: lots of people. It's not just for you to hang
- 52:29Speaker 1: on me and like, you know, follow me. I don't
- 52:31Speaker 1: like when people like follow me the whole time and
- 52:33Speaker 1: and try to like you know, and people often try
- 52:36Speaker 1: to pick me up because and I never let that.
- 52:39Speaker 1: I don't crowdsurfing is I is not. I hate it.
- 52:44Speaker 3: It's because they can drop you. You can just fall
- 52:46Speaker 3: into all that it.
- 52:47Speaker 1: Is always it just looks so stupid to me when
- 52:51Speaker 1: you're up there trying to sing and you're being carried.
- 52:53Speaker 1: I mean I know, I mean I've done it a
- 52:54Speaker 1: bunch of times. It is like a it's a bucket list,
- 52:57Speaker 1: you got to do it. You know, you're just feeling
- 52:59Speaker 1: like such an idiot. I don't know. I mean certain bands,
- 53:03Speaker 1: if I were Blake, wedd eighty two or whatever, you
- 53:05Speaker 1: hell yeah, but not I can't. I just it's not
- 53:09Speaker 1: it just doesn't feel right. But anyways, like all that
- 53:11Speaker 1: kind of stuff is like you just have to constantly
- 53:14Speaker 1: try to stay yourself and that changes. That's the thing.
- 53:17Speaker 1: It changes. If you're trying to stay true to who
- 53:19Speaker 1: you were when you were you know, thirty or twenty
- 53:22Speaker 1: five or nineteen or whatever, you're kind of gonna look
- 53:25Speaker 1: kind of silly. You know. Then again, well I even know,
- 53:28Speaker 1: well I even know you know that I look silly.
- 53:31Speaker 3: I know, right, probably not. I mean, well, your daughter
- 53:34Speaker 3: will tell you that.
- 53:37Speaker 1: I'm praying she does. So far, so far, she's been
- 53:40Speaker 1: pretty kind. She's like, I mean she has seen some
- 53:43Speaker 1: videos that we've attempted to make some videos, and she's
- 53:46Speaker 1: like she's like, really, yeah, thing like that, she says.
- 53:51Speaker 1: She's like, you look like you're trying to be all that.
- 53:53Speaker 1: You know. It's like yeah, she's like, it ruins this
- 53:55Speaker 1: fair criticiz ruined. She's like, it kind of ruins the
- 53:58Speaker 1: song for me. I was like, uh, you got to
- 53:59Speaker 1: kill that video, you know. I know it's good. Thank God,
- 54:03Speaker 1: thank God for her.
- 54:05Speaker 3: How do you feel about the sad Dad music label?
- 54:09Speaker 3: Does that sit with you?
- 54:10Speaker 1: I don't care. I mean, it's it's appropriate. I cannot
- 54:16Speaker 1: I mean like yeah, it definitely like it's I totally
- 54:22Speaker 1: understand it, and I think I I think I embrace it. Yeah, yeah,
- 54:28Speaker 1: it feels fine. I mean, I I it's not it's
- 54:31Speaker 1: not how I would define myself, you know, entirely. But yeah,
- 54:35Speaker 1: that's a little part of me. And I say that's
- 54:38Speaker 1: a little part of of everybody. I think it's something.
- 54:40Speaker 1: I think. The funny thing is like like my daughter,
- 54:43Speaker 1: I think like loves the sad dads. Like we've been
- 54:47Speaker 1: we saw hoodies that say sad Dad's on it. It's
- 54:49Speaker 1: like her, you know, she's into it. She loves like
- 54:51Speaker 1: like it's cool, you know. And for some reason, I
- 54:53Speaker 1: think it's cool to be a sad dad. But but
- 54:55Speaker 1: I but I also I can see why why other
- 54:58Speaker 1: artists that get the sad and mostly it's young women
- 55:02Speaker 1: get the sort of sort of you know, the sad
- 55:05Speaker 1: label and how that can be infuriating. And but for me,
- 55:10Speaker 1: like I've earned it. Yeah, I can't mat, I cannot
- 55:16Speaker 1: say that that.
- 55:17Speaker 3: Does not ship well Pitchfork. I read that Pitchfork wrote
- 55:20Speaker 3: the national art dad rock as much as their men's
- 55:23Speaker 3: magazine Rock.
- 55:24Speaker 1: That's kind of more sleek. No, that one's hurtful.
- 55:28Speaker 3: That's hurtful. I feel like that's sleek. That's like GQ rock.
- 55:32Speaker 1: I think like Maxim when you say men's magazines, I
- 55:36Speaker 1: think it like details and yeah, I don't think in
- 55:40Speaker 1: GQ is I guess yeah, GQ reck. I don't think
- 55:43Speaker 1: we're GQ rack either. That'd be cool. I wish we
- 55:46Speaker 1: were GQ rack. I am. I am doing an interview
- 55:49Speaker 1: with GQ I think soon.
- 55:50Speaker 3: Have you done many interviews yet for this album?
- 55:53Speaker 1: No, not that many. I'm doing a lot less. I'm
- 55:56Speaker 1: doing a lot less than usual. Just yeah. A lot
- 56:02Speaker 1: of it is because it's like, eh, the stuff on
- 56:05Speaker 1: this record is a little bit harder to talk about.
- 56:08Speaker 1: I think maybe I kind of was like, it's kind
- 56:12Speaker 1: of all they are on the record, you know, so
- 56:14Speaker 1: so like getting into it a little bit, digging further
- 56:18Speaker 1: into it is it feels a little icky. But I
- 56:20Speaker 1: know that's I know that's part of it, and I'm
- 56:22Speaker 1: happy to do and so but this has been delightful
- 56:25Speaker 1: that it isn't that.
- 56:26Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate so much you taking the time and
- 56:28Speaker 3: being so thoughtful and best wishes with the album. It's awesome,
- 56:33Speaker 3: thank you, And sounds like you have another album already ready.
- 56:36Speaker 1: Maybe we always say that nonetheless, it's gonna be it's
- 56:40Speaker 1: gotta be great. So if it's not. It'll take it then.
- 56:44Speaker 1: It might take some time, but thanks for doing this. This
- 56:46Speaker 1: seems cool.
- 56:49Speaker 2: Thanks to Matt Berninger for breaking down his songwriting process
- 56:53Speaker 2: with Lea. You can hear all of our favorite national
- 56:56Speaker 2: songs on a playlist at broken record podcast dot com.
- 57:00Speaker 2: You can follow us on Twitter at broken Record. Broken
- 57:04Speaker 2: Record is produced with help from Lea Rose, Jason Gambrell,
- 57:07Speaker 2: Ben Holliday, and Eric's Antler. Our editor is Sophie Crane.
- 57:12Speaker 2: Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries and if
- 57:15Speaker 2: you like the show, please remember to share, rate and
- 57:17Speaker 2: review us on your podcast. App Our theme musics by
- 57:20Speaker 2: Kenny Beats I'm justin Richman. Consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus.
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- 57:44Speaker 2: Kenny Beats I'm justin Richmond